In 2006, deep in the Xinjiang desert in northwest China, a group of archaeologists made a discovery as puzzling as it was fascinating. While excavating an ancient necropolis known as the Yanghai Tombs, near the city of Turpan, they came across an extraordinarily well-preserved Iron Age mummy. Initially seemingly just another archaeological find in the region, this discovery soon revealed secrets that challenged conventional accounts of the ancient cultures of Central Asia. The mummified body, identified as that of a man around 45 years old, rested in Tomb 90 of the archaeological site. What most caught the scientists’ attention was…
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